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05-02-2014

ARA News

Damascus, Syria− The King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, issued a royal order on Tuesday calling on the security forces in the kingdom to arrest anyone suspected for links with dogmatic and radical armed groups fighting outside Saudi Arabia, especially those affiliated with groups that are regionally or internationally classified as terrorist organizations.

The orders of the Saudi King came amid increasing numbers of Saudis participating in the conflict in the war-torn Syria.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Foreign Ministry has expressed its concerns regarding the 135 Canadian citizens who recently joined terrorist organizations. At least 30 Canadian fighters are involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria. The Canadian FM’s main concern is whether those fighters would intend to return home and the nature of procedures required to deal with these cases.

This comes in light of the mounting international worries concerning the increasing numbers of foreign fighters in Syria. According to recent estimates, more than 10,000 foreign fighters joined the Syrian conflict, some of them support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, while others joined the ranks of the opposition groups. The majority of the foreign fighters prefers backing radical Islamist factions (mainly al-Qaeda affiliated).

Most of the foreign fighters arrive in Syria through Turkey. Among the nationalities of those fighters, Tunisia comes in the first place with the largest number of foreign participants in the ongoing Syrian war. Others come from Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and a number of European countries.